I would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Xing Bengang for his guidance during my M.Sc. research. I am thankful to Junxin and other group members for their support and assistance during my period of research. I would like to express my gratitude towards Prof. Chiba Shunsuke for his approval of his laboratory usage for the synthetic work, which greatly facilitated this research. I am also extremely thankful towards Ciputra, Derek, Sherman, Hiro, and others for their constant guidance and support from my undergraduate to graduate period of studies. I would like to thank Jin Yong for his contributions during his final year project, to the work presented in this thesis. I would like to express my appreciation to the staffs from the Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry (CBC), Ee Ling and Wen Wei for their assistance with instrument trainings/usages; Janice, Si Yun, and Yean Chin for their assistance in graduate studies matters. I would like to express my gratitude to Nanyang Technological University for the financial support during the original Ph.D. candidature, in the form of Nanyang Research Scholarship. I would also like to thank CBC for giving me the opportunity to attend the 2 nd International Biophotonics Conference, Singapore. Last but not least, I would like to thank my daddy and mummy for their support in my decisions regarding further studies. I am also extremely grateful to my friends, Gillian, Wei Ting, Wei Li, and others for their constant support and encouragement. ii